Deborah N. Kalkman

Clinical outcomes after percutaneous coronary intervention with the COMBO stent versus Resolute Integrity and PROMUS Element stents: a propensity-matched analysis

AIMS The COMBO stent combines sirolimus elution with an endothelial progenitor cell-capturing layer to promote early endothelialisation. There has not been a head-to-head comparison of this novel device with any other currently used drug-eluting stent (DES). We sought to compare clinical outcome at two years after COMBO stent placement with the Resolute Integrity or PROMUS Element stent in an all-comers cohort. METHODS AND RESULTS Patients from the REMEDEE registry (COMBO, n=1,000) were matched with patients from the DUTCH PEERS trial (PROMUS Element/Resolute Integrity, n=1,811). Propensity score matching on 13 baseline characteristics was applied to create two balanced cohorts of patients treated with COMBO versus PROMUS Element/Resolute Integrity. Propensity score matching yielded 771 patient pairs, representing all-comers patients, with a median age of 65 years, 27% female and more than 50% of patients presenting with acute coronary syndrome. Target lesion failure (TLF), a composite of cardiac death, target vessel MI and any target lesion revascularisation, at two-year follow-up was 7.9% in COMBO and 6.4% in PROMUS Element/Resolute Integrity, HR 1.24 (95% CI: 0.85-1.81), p=0.26. Definite stent thrombosis (ST) was not significantly different between groups (0.8% vs. 0.9%, p=0.79). CONCLUSIONS In a propensity-matched analysis, the COMBO stent showed similar rates of TLF and ST at two-year follow-up compared to Resolute Integrity and PROMUS Element.

1-Year Clinical Performance of COMBO Stent Versus Xience Stent in All-Comers Patients With Coronary Artery Disease

The novel COMBO dual-therapy stainless-steel coronary stent (DTS) (OrbusNeich Medical BV, Hoevelaken, the Netherlands) is a device that combines a sirolimus-eluting layer with a prohealing layer with anti-CD34+ antibodies, which attracts circulating endothelial progenitor cells. These endothelial

Predictors of residual tricuspid regurgitation after percutaneous closure of atrial septal defect

Aims Functional tricuspid regurgitation (TR) associated with atrial septal defects (ASDs) is frequently present due to right-sided volume-overload. Tricuspid valve (TV) repair is often considered in candidates for surgical ASD closure, and percutaneous TV repair is currently under clinical investigation. In this study, we develop a prediction model to identify patients with residual moderate/severe TR after percutaneous ASD closure. Methods and results In this observational study, 172 adult patients (26% male, age 49 ± 17 years) with successful percutaneous ASD closure had pre- and post-procedural echocardiography. Right heart dimensions/function were measured. TR was assessed semi-quantitatively. A prediction model for 6-month post-procedural moderate/severe TR was derived from uni-and multi-variable logistic regression. Clinical follow-up (FU) was updated and adverse events were defined as cardiovascular death or hospitalization for heart failure. Pre-procedural TR was present in 130 (76%) patients (moderate/severe: n = 64) of which 72 (55%) had ≥1 grade reduction post-closure. Independent predictors of post-procedural moderate/severe TR (n = 36) were age ≥60 years [odds ratio (OR) 2.57; P = 0.095], right atrial end-diastolic area ≥10cm2/m2 (OR 3.36; P = 0.032), right ventricular systolic pressure ≥44 mmHg (OR 6.44; P = 0.001), and tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion ≤2.3 cm (OR 3.29; P = 0.037), producing a model with optimism-corrected C-index = 0.82 (P < 0.001). Sensitivity analysis excluding baseline none/mild TR yielded similar results. Patients with moderate/severe TR at 6-month FU had higher adverse event rates [hazard ratio = 6.2 (95% confidence interval 1.5-26); log-rank P = 0.004] across a median of 45 (30-76) months clinical FU. Conclusion This study shows that parallel to reduction of volume-overload and reverse remodelling after percutaneous ASD closure, TR improved substantially despite significant TR at baseline. Our proposed risk model helps identify ASD patients in whom TR regression is unlikely after successful percutaneous closure.

Response by Kalkman et al to Letter Regarding Article, “J Curve in Patients Randomly Assigned to Different Systolic Blood Pressure Targets: An Experimental Approach to an Observational Paradigm”

We thank Dr Koh for his comments on our article1 and his remarks on the new 2017 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association hypertension guideline. In this new guideline, the systolic blood pressure (SBP) target is set to <130 mm Hg for all patients, a significant reduction compared with the previous target that was aimed at reducing SBP to <140 mm Hg.2 The new SBP target also applies to high-risk patients, such as patients with diabetes mellitus and advanced age. We agree with Dr Koh that the benefit of further …

Impact of Baseline Atrial Fibrillation on Outcomes Among Women Who Underwent Contemporary Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (from the Win-TAVI Registry)

Pre-existing atrial fibrillation (AF) is common among patients who underwent transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) and has been associated with adverse outcomes. The specific impact of AF at baseline in women who underwent TAVI, however, remains unknown. The Womens International Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation is a prospective, multinational registry evaluating the safety and performance of contemporary TAVI in women in 19 centers between January 2013 and December 2015. Patients with available electrocardiogram at baseline were compared according to the presence of AF. All events were adjudicated according to the Valve Academic Research Consortium 2 criteria. Associations between AF and outcomes were tested using multivariate Cox regression model. Of the 993 women with available baseline electrocardiogram included in the study, 200 (20.1%) presented with AF. Patients with AF at baseline had higher Euroscore I score values and more frequently had chronic kidney disease or prior stroke. Patients without AF more frequently had coronary artery disease. There was no difference regarding in-hospital events between the two groups aside from longer length of stay for patients with AF (13.3 ± 11 vs 11.5 ± 7.1 days, p = 0.01). In multivariate analysis, AF at baseline was associated with an increase of all-cause and cardiovascular death at 12 months (adjHR 1.67 95%CI 1.11 to 2.50, p = 0.013 and adjHR 1.85 95%CI 1.19 to 2.86, p = 0.006 respectively). In conclusion, in this prospective registry of women who underwent contemporary TAVI, the presence of AF at baseline was associated with significantly increased 12-month mortality.